The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence is a heartfelt, quirky, and thought-provoking novel that blends humor and deep emotion. It follows Alex, an unlikely protagonist who survives a freak accident and forms an unconventional friendship with reclusive widower Mr. Peterson. The book explores themes of fate, life, and death in a unique way, with Alex’s scientific curiosity and compassion driving the story. It’s a mix of coming-of-age and philosophical reflection, with witty writing that draws you in. Fans of eccentric characters and emotionally charged stories will find this a memorable read!

A sweet, quirky, unusual main character makes this a charming read, even if a bit uneventful. Overall, an enjoyable read.

This is a nice book. It makes you laugh, think and cry. It has everything you want in a young adult novel. Maybe it had a little bit too much drama for my liking and Alex is a bit too naive but overall it’s a nice book and I had a nice time reading it.

A nicely done balance of humour and heart felt emotion, reflective and thoughtful in turns. I enjoyed the style, and the voice of Alex.

Several years since I was introduced to Alex Woods and he remains a memorable character. Funny, charming, emotional - a recommended read!

The story of Alex Woods, from his catastrophic beginnings of being hit with a rock to the near ending where he is making life and death decisions, the story in between is a bit convoluted, long and not terribly fascinating.

I'm sad I didn't love this one. I think the writing style, told like a letter, just kept this from being an emotional read. Which, due to the subject matter, was really the only reason I wanted to keep reading - because I wanted to care what would happen next and understand they "why". Instead it was detached, partially due to the detached nature of the narrator, but definitely because the story was told in a 'then this happened, then this happened' type of storytelling that left me bored.

Lucy, the poor un-spayed kitten, was one of the few fascinating pieces to the story that we got infrequent snippets of. I didn't care about Alex's ferocious reading habits nor blow by bow of every book he'd ever read (most times twice). It made this story drag on and on and made the final heart of the actual story, that didn't get going until about 150 pages in, have less impact or really any impact at all.